Digital empowerment company Curve Group has acquired Stock Shop, which provides the financial services industry with apps, Web sites and other digital tools to empower and educate, as well as to improve the overall customer experience, for an undisclosed sum.
Annabel Dallamore, the founder and CEO of Stock Shop, will join Curve Group as the CEO of Curve Systems, the evolution business unit of the group, which assists several fintech companies to grow through funding and management assistance. Also, there will be a need to expand the employee base to serve new Curve Group customers that require skills provided by Stock Shop, says Fred Baumhardt, CEO of Curve Group.
The acquisition gives Curve Group access to a variety of technologies built by Stock Shop, including Know Your Customer (KYC) aggregation and e-learning platform, says Baumhard. These technologies enable the group to assist other fintech organisations to improve the quality of service they provide, he adds.
KYC is the process through which a business verifies the identity of its customers in order to comply with banking regulations - in South Africa's case, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.
Stock Shop's KYC aggregator and gamified learning technology will be deployed as part of the Electronic Fare Collection System for minibus taxi commuters in Gauteng, set to launch in February next year, says Baumhardt. The card-based project's move toward formal banking transactions will help improve taxi operators' creditworthiness and will aid commuters to budget for and manage their travel costs, he explains.
Dallamore says through this deal, Stock Shop will be able to accelerate financial inclusion, provide banking services to more people across the continent, and bring about a positive change using technology.
"There is a good cultural fit between the two companies, as both are focused on using technology to enable access to banking for the majority of the population, who currently cannot afford these services," says Baumhard.
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